New York Daily Photo Analytics

Wednesday, November 07, 2007

teany

It's always a pleasant surprise to do research for an article not knowing what to expect and find that there is a really interesting story behind something that on first glance appeared to be relatively ordinary. You could argue that one can find something of interest in everything and that a great writer can make perspiration riveting, but I think ordinary mortals would agree that some things are just inherently more interesting than others. Like teany. Teany is a beverage company - many who live in the NYC area are probably familiar with their tea/juice products, as they are widely distributed in the New York, New Jersey area. Teany is also a small tea house and restaurant, shown in the photo, at 90 Rivington Street on the Lower East Side. The company was started in 2002 by Kelly Tisdale and the musician Moby (they were boyfriend/girlfriend at the time). The shop offers 98 varieties of loose tea and vegan food (Kelly is vegetarian, Moby is vegan). Moby, who started his recording career as a techno artist, has a certain mystique and cultish following. It reminds me of the aura around David Bowie, who, coincidentally, lived across the street from Moby in Little Italy for a decade. Moby (Richard Melville Hall) was born in Harlem and brought up in Darien, CT - a startling contrast, with Darien and the neighboring communities of Connecticut being some of the wealthiest in the country. Never surprising when a life of privilege leads to rebellion - Moby was in a hardcore punk band in the early 1980s called the Vatican Commandos. Read Moby's bio on his website here. His name, btw, was a nickname given to him by his parents, referencing the novel Moby Dick, written by Herman Melville, his great-great-great-great uncle. Rumors of the closing of the tea shop in 2006 turned out to be untrue. There was, however a business change with a focus more on teas and less on food and Kelly taking full ownership of the company ...

Note about the company name: The company proclaims that "you can pronounce it however you like. tea-knee. tee-nee. tea-enn-why," and that Moby and Kelly themselves pronounce it "teenie," because they are "small," both in stature and in status.

8 comments:

indieperfumes said...

I like the modesty and value of the whole concept...also interesting that someone related to Melville is still among us in NYC, and famous at that.

Johanna said...

I was just @ Teany yesterday, coincidentally. Every time I've been there I love the food & the tea.

Just a small correction--not all the food there is vegan. It's all vegetarian, & much of it is vegan or can be made vegan, but you can get cheese & other non-vegan stuff there.

Anonymous said...

C'est vrai que l'on peut toujours trouver quelque chose d'intéressant dans n'importe quel lieu . La preuve ! ce petit salon de thé a toute une histoire !

Anne Corrons said...

Wonderful and really interesting picture, as usual.I should go!

Joao Augusto Aldeia said...

Wonderful. I like pictures with a story, be it implicit or explicit, told or suggested, true or just imagined. If the photo is good, so much the better. That's the case. Congratulations.

Ioanna said...

Your pictures are adorable! I love your site!

Brian Dubé said...

Wow - thanks johanna, claudine, Anne, j.a., ioanna. I'm glad you all find the story interesting. In most instances I spend much more time writing the story than working with the image. I'm glad you have the time to read them.

Anonymous said...

Dear Brian

- I love your parade photos & I found you on Flickr

- I'm blogging your pink lady with the pink poodle from the Easter parade 2007.
www.creativeflairchic.blogspot.com

It's a girlie blog - probably not really up your alley - but it's bright & kaleidoscopically parade - like!!!
Thanks so much for making your photos available for blogging :-)